Friday, October 20, 2017

21 things you don’t know about me

Walking on Westshore beach in Napier last weekend


Because it's my birthday tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to do a post on 21 things you (probably) don’t know about me.  I always love these kinds of posts when others write them, probably because I’m très nosy, right?  I hope you enjoy mine; feel free to tell me if it’s really boring though!

It’s Labour weekend in New Zealand which means that Monday is a public holiday; even better, it’s also our regional anniversary day today; which means I have always had a four day weekend to celebrate my birthday with.  Isn’t that fabulous?

I felt mildly short-changed when I could ‘only’ have a three day weekend for my birthday when I lived out of the area.  That’s why I had to move back to Hawke’s Bay, for the extra-special, extra-long birthday weekend.

Okay, let’s go, and let’s see if I can conjure up 21 things you don’t know about me.
  1. My husband Paul’s birthday is also on the 21st of October (he’s one year younger than me).  I asked the Universe to send me my ideal guy – I specified ‘me, but male’ and I got someone who looks similar to me and was born on the same day.  On Saturday I will be 47 and he will be 46!
  2. I don’t wear a lot of pink but I love the colour.  I associate it with happiness and the peace and fun of childhood.
  3. I adore scented body products and perfumes.  Linking to number 2, I remember with great fondness Yardley Roses perfume and Avon Pink bubble bath, both in the late 1970s.
  4. 1990s tv programmes and movies make me happy – Melrose Place, Friends, Frasier, and any 90s movie with Gwyneth Paltrow in it.
  5. I don’t like eating baby vegetables because it seems cruel i.e. baby corn, baby carrots, although, I do love baby peas.  Call me contrary.
  6. I feel like I am getting younger as I get older.  Things like embracing technology, not complaining about ‘the younger generation’; I plan to become more youthful with time!
  7. I wasn’t always a cat lady – I used to think cats were boring with no personality.  How wrong I was.
  8. I always thought I’d have kids but it didn’t work out for us and now I can’t imagine my life any other way.
  9. The more I write, the more I love writing.  I can see myself still putting out books when I’m 80.
  10. I have extremely vivid dreams and they freak me out sometimes.
  11. I am scared of everything, but learning not to be.  (Scary movies are a total no-no.When I was a toddler, I wouldn’t walk on the sand because of crabs (there were no crabs on the beach) and I wouldn’t walk on the grass because it had worms underneath.  I only walked on paths but then one day I realized there was dirt under paths too…
  12. I have a strong sixth sense and sometimes have things come to me before I hear about them.  I pick up on other peoples energy too.
  13. I am a very slow eater, which is unfortunate because Paul eats very quickly (we are alike in so many ways but in this we are total opposites!)  Often he’s almost finished his dinner as I am taking my third mouthful.
  14. I wish I could have cat car-seats and a cat stroller so I could take my girls out with me (probably shouldn’t have let that point out in public).
  15. I love ice-cream to a fault, so I usually don’t buy it.  I haven’t had it in months, in fact.
  16. I love spreadsheets and doing financial stuff, and I have a really good memory for numbers – phone numbers, tax numbers, birthdays.  I am good at maths too.
  17. I am often accused of driving too slow but it’s just that I like to adhere to the speed limit.  This is ironic because I was quite the lead-foot as a teen.  My mum’s car had to get four new tyres after I started using it when I first gained my driver’s license at 15.  I felt bad when I heard about the new tyre purchase because I had been doing screechy tyre-spin starts whenever the lights turned green.  Lucky it was a small town where I grew up.
  18. When Cabbage Patch Kids first came out I wanted one desperately, but, already at high school I feared it was too late for me.  I still love them.  (Never had one though.)
  19. I have zero hand-eye coordination when it comes to ball sports.  My sporty uncle who is extremely laid-back tried to teach me how to play tennis once.  It’s the only time I’ve seen him lose his cool.  Yes, I am that hopeless.  Shame, because I’ve always fancied myself a tennis player, in an English country house Pimm’s on the lawn kind of way.
  20. I walk fast, because really, who wants to walk slow?  I’ve got places I want to get to, so please, get out of my way!
  21. Apparently I talk very quietly.  My mum is always saying ‘Pardon?’ but I think that has more to do with her hearing than my speaking.
And that’s me, hope you enjoyed it.

On my birthday I will be hosting a laydeez lunch for eight of us (all family members), and Paul is so thankful he has to work that day.  He’ll be hoping everyone has left by the time he gets home and we can enjoy the rest of our birthday weekend, relaxing with our terrible view :)

The view from our front lawn

Bon weekend everyone!

Fiona

PS.  Christmas will be here soon, and I wanted to remind you about my book 'A Chic and Simple Christmas'.  If Christmas stresses you out every year, can I invite you to look at it in a different way?  One reviewer said of this book 'A very non-traditional Christmas book - but thought provoking' and another 'Used the ideas to have probably the best, low stress, Christmas I have ever had.'  Yay!

Check out the Amazon 'Look Inside' function to see if 'A Chic and Simple Christmas' is your cup of tea.   Available in paperback and on Kindle here.

http://amzn.to/2zBSUIU


And please, tell me something I don't know about you.  Please tell me something really embarrassing so I can have a giggle.  Laughing is good for you and I'm sure you'll agree, I shared some really embarrassing things with you (a cat stroller???) 

41 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday, Fiona! May it be your most beautiful, successful year ever!

    My one embarrassing thing: when I'm alone in the house I sing 1980s power ballad songs to my cat and she LOVES it. She especially likes "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner.

    And I guess another - sometimes (okay, always) when my husband goes on a business trip I binge watch days of the Real Housewives franchise, which I save up on the DVR for that purpose.

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    1. LOVE THEM BOTH, Amy!! I think it's awesome that your cat has a favourite song :)

      I watched Khloe and Lamar this week (or should I say re-watched, I've seen them all before), I think that's worse than RH!

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  2. You could probably make a cat stroller. All you'd have to do is get a baby stroller, say at a yard sale, and put a frame over it and some strong netting over the frame... some velcro to close it in front. It would be like a see-through tent on a stroller. And I'm sure you'd have absolutely no trouble getting your cat to go inside so that you could go on a stroll.... ;)

    Something you don't know about me.... I used to be a real Harry Potter geek. I wrote fanfic, drew fan art, even dressed as Professor Snape for the midnight release of the last book (I had long, dyed black hair at the time and a rather ...aquiline... nose, so I went for the reverse-drag look. I even stuffed a sock in the front of my pants to give myself more... swagger.)

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  3. Happy Birthday! Your ladeez lunch sounds like a blast, have fun.

    I do many embarrassing things apparently, just ask my daughter :)
    What immediately came to mind is that I enjoy Kpop. In fact, I have accompanied my daughter to a couple concerts. Mind you, I leave her to her friend(s) at the concert and stay on my own or sometimes I'm with a friend of mine who likes Kpop too. Imagine ... a 50-something year old woman singing and dancing along at a boy-group concert. Embarrassing. No I'm not a cougar, it's just fun and actually my daughter gets a kick out of it! :)

    D.

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  4. Happy birthday to you, Fiona!

    Your "21 things" were fun -- thanks for sharing! I sing opera, though I don't really enjoy attending operas! I love concerts of mixed opera arias, but I don't really enjoy the full length productions. My teacher used to think I was crazy. Anyway, I vocalize most every day, and I imagine my neighbors hear me, especially as I approach high C. No one has ever complained . . . .

    I raised and home schooled two daughters, but my younger child came out as transgender almost four years ago, so I have learned to tell people who ask that I have a daughter and a son. (It was a very hard, emotional transition at first.) My son's birthday is coming up on October 25th, so we're celebrating this weekend also!

    LOVE your view. Enjoy your laydeez lunch!

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    1. Hi Karen,
      Do you have a current blog (or any recommendations for one) about you /your youngest's experiences? Our family is going through the same thing.
      Apologies to Fiona, I wasn't able to comment on Karen's blog!
      Thanks,
      Allison

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    2. Karen, I hope your family had a lovely birthday celebration on the 25th :)

      And Allison, no problem!

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  5. Happy birthday! Enjoy the holiday to celebrate it!
    My embarrassing tidbit--I love to watch the Kardashians. No explanations or mitigations, me, the girl who avoids too much social interaction, loves the fake drama and living a life in the spotlight without chores, laundry, or grocery shopping :)

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    1. Gosh I love watching the Kardashians too. They help me up my game with eyemakeup and doing my hair :) And Kim even has the same birthday as me (if a minor ten years younger.)

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  6. Wishing you an AMAZING BIRTHDAY Fiona! Thanks for sharing your "21 Things" list-so fun to read! To share... I Love listening to all kinds of music. I LOVE Christmas music so much, sometimes I start listening to it as early as September! I find it beautiful and calming. I also Love to sing to my dog Bonnie Doon. I might be a little off key, but she still enjoys it! I often catch myself humming while I'm shopping...guess shopping makes me happy! Sounds like you have a wonderful Birthday planned. (My two sisters and I go out for ladies night dinners to celebrate our Birthdays every year.) Hope you enjoy your special day!

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    1. I love Christmas music too, Lorna! It makes me feel really happy (although actual Christmas stresses me out a bit.)

      SOOO cute that you sing to your dog :)

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  7. Happy Birthday! It sounds like you have a great day lined up.
    I'm also hopeless with eye-hand coordination, but I like to dance. Especially Argentine tango.

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    1. I would love to learn a sensual dance like that!

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  8. Happy birthday to you and to your husband, Fiona! And what a lot of interesting things we now know about you! Husband and I (married 53 years now) eat at exactly the same speed. It's really funny, we can have the last piece of meat or the last piece of potato on our plates and then go for it, pop them in our mouths and put our knives and forks down at exactly the same time! So not only the same speed, but we have often eaten the food in the same order, so to speak! This was noticed by a relative about 20 years ago, we'd not noticed it until then.
    The other thing that people don't often know about me is that while I'm not a sporty person I wonce won a trophy for ten-pin bowling! It was the Ladies' High Average for the season.
    As for music, while I loved singing as a young person, first lessons as a soloist (classical) and then in a choir, and love all kinds of music (I don't count the repetitive stuff being performed today) I now prefer peace and quiet, even instead of Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, et al. Mind you, I can still dance along to Abba's Dancing Queen have I a mind to!
    Margaret P

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    1. I think it's fabulous that you and your husband eat at exactly the same speed and with the same foods :) What a dream that would be for me!

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  9. Happy Birthday Fiona! I will share that I had an imaginary friend called Carmen. Don't judge people�� Fiona would love to know if you have a new book coming out.

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    1. Yay for Carmen! And yes, a new book out within the next few months :)

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  10. I enjoyed this post, Fiona! Have a wonderful birthday weekend. It's a whole new chapter of life for you already, the birthday just 'seals the deal' so to speak.
    Something that most don't know about me: I am afraid, to the point of being ill, of escalators. There was a near accident as a child when my mom was being impatient and she sort of pushed me forward. The step folded under just as my foot hit it and I sort of fell. A man reached out and righted me but to this day I can't for the life of me get on an escalator going up or down without being sick. Thankfully there are very few escalators about in my area!

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    1. My goodness, Terri, it's understandable why you don't like escalators :(

      I am happy for you that you don't have to encounter them often!

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  11. I understand the hand-eye coordination thing. My husband and I have been on a couple's bowling league for about 5 years now and my average is only 102. (I once got a "46" and I actually cried. I think it was the alcohol that inevitably accompanies bowling)

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    1. I have been bowling once; broke a nail and never went back! Not just superficial either, it ripped right down. That was all the sign I needed that bowling and I weren't a match.

      I'm guessing that 46 is not a great score :)

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  12. I have enough lotions and perfumes to open a store! Totally love wearing scent. Good thing Leland loves scent because while I have several vintage favorites (that I love finding on eBay), I also buy samples of anything that sounds like it might smell amazing - then end up giving most away to my cleaning lady because I can't stand most of them! She's happy (smile). Love the smell of sheets that have hung out on the line in the sunshine. Am rabid about certain foods that I eat like a maniac - such as corn on the cob (imagine kernels flying everywhere). It would embarrass me but I like it too much to care!! Homemade ice cream is the only kind I love but we rarely make it anymore. There are also certain foods that absolutely can NOT be in the house because they call to me in the middle of the night. I'm not hearing voices, either, as evidenced by the pounds I need to lose now. So they don't come in the door anymore. LOVE your 21 list - and they were not bad at all - I have a friend who has a doggie stroller. a DOGGIE stroller.

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  13. I hope you have a lovely birthday!!! How special you get to share it with your husband!

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  14. What a fun and whimsical post (and hilarious at times too)! It's like you gave us a birthday gift, instead of being the Birthday Girl yourself. I'm nosy too and love to find out these things about you; all the little details about someone add up to their whole. Wishing you a wonderful birthday with your husband, and with your "lady-relatives" at the get together. Happy, happy birthday Fiona!!!

    Erina

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  15. I am a total crazy dog lady. I just went outside to take some trash to the bin and saw my neighbor's Cavalier King Charles out on their lawn. I promptly barreled across the street squealing, "Snuggy boo!"* I did not notice her owner sitting on their porch with another neighbor until after I got to Riley and cuddled her. They laughed at me. :)

    *I nickname all the neighborhood dogs. Yes, I'm weird. ;)

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    1. I am the same way, only with birds. A couple businesses around here have resident parrots, and I patronize these businesses mostly to visit the birds -- who I consider my friends. When I pull up, I make a beeline to the parrots, ignoring the humans until I've greeted the birds. Because in avian culture, the birds consider themselves top of the "pecking order" and must be greeted before one does anything else. (Yes, I am weird, too. Ain't it fun? ;) )

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    2. Aurora and Mimi, I am mad for little dogs and Paul often says people will put up notices warning other dog owners about me :0

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  16. Happy Birthday Fiona and wishing you a great year! Do you know about EdensGarden.com essential oils? The owner was inspired to create her company based on a trip to New Zealand. They have a new oil called "Fearless." I have been using their oils for years and love them. I've tried many and especially like their Head Ease for long writing stints at my computer, so you might too. And their Muscle Relief helps my arms from typing so much.

    I don't think you seem nosy; just a curious active mind, as most writers and Type A people have. :)

    You mentioned Walden and Thoreau. I studied his writings in college while earning my English/teaching/writing degree and I loved his work since I have lived my version of simplicity (which isn't his nor like anyone else's, as everyone's version of simple living is very different, I think, and what seems simple to one person seems complex and tiring to another.) Then in the late 1980s my hubby had a biz trip to Boston so I went along and we took a bus tour to Walden Pond and the area so that was fun to see where Thoreau lived and worked. It was March though, so the pond was frozen over and the trees were bare so I personally didn't find his version of a lifestyle appealing, since I need my city girl creature comforts, ha! I liked seeing the Harvard campus much more. I hope you enjoy his work; I only read his one tome and enjoyed it but I wasn't intrigued enough to read more of his work.

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    1. Thank you for your thoughts on Thoreau, Kathryn. So fascinating.

      I haven't heard of that essential oil brand but how wonderful that they have a NZ-inspired blend! I will look them up.

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  17. Happy Belated Birthday, Fiona! I haven't commented before, but now I can't resist, as I thought I was the only one who wasn't able to eat baby carrots or baby veg of any sort! Also items nr. 9, 10 and 11, which makes me think I'll be a successful writer, too : ). Embarrassing tidbit? I love Hello Kitty stuff, and I'm 60. So, nr. 6, too. Love, Marie-Hélène

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    1. Dear Marie-Helene, I hope Fiona won't mind if I put a comment in here ... I think the problem, if it is a problem, is that shops refer to "baby" carrots and "baby" veg because they are small. They are not "baby" at all, they are simply undersized as they've not grown to full size. Vegetables and fruit don't have babies, only humans have babies. While veg are small they are succulent and tender. Don't let them being small put you off eating them, they are delicious, really they are.
      Margaret P

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    2. Margaret, I know that vegetables don't have babies, it's just the thought of cutting them off before their prime feels mean. It's irrational, I know!

      Marie-Hélène, go Hello Kitty! And I'm sure you would make a great writer. How do I know? Because you desire to be one. That's the only requirement in my opinion :)

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  18. Happy belated birthday! Mine is in two weeks. What a great gift you've given me! The idea of a list about myself,for myself, as I really have no one to post it for. But I love the idea. And as for getting younger as you get older? What a concept. I often think to myself, "if I knew then what I know now", boy do the ideas come flying through my mind. Thank you so much. I really appreciate all that you share on the post.

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    1. Happy birthday Jocelyne! And if you want to share your list, you are welcome to do it here in the comments. The more fun the merrier!

      Many people have said to me 'I don't feel X age on the inside' and I feel the same. Our inside doesn't change; we get a bit more experience as you've said, but our soul doesn't age like our external container does. That thought helps me feel 'young.'

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  19. Happy birthday to you and your husband Fiona! I hope your writing class is going well. I almost signed up but I've finished my book. May need to sign up for the next one b/c I'm overwhelmed by all the info out there re publishing and marketing, etc.
    My embarrassing secret is that I can and will eat a whole bag of jelly beans. That's why I never buy them anymore! xo

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    1. Hi Deborah, yes the writing class is going very well, thank you. Congrats on finishing your book!! I can't wait to read it when it's out :)

      And I hear you with the jellybeans!

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Merci for your comment. Wishing you a chic day!

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